In recent days, Taunton native Jennifer Martel had sent out emails to her friends detailing her fear of her live-in boyfriend, Jared Remy, her relatives said.

Remy, the father of Martel’s 4-year-old daughter, was possessive and violent, and Martel was looking to end the relationship, her relatives said.

On Thursday, she changed her Facebook status from “in a relationship” to “it’s complicated,” they said.

Hours later, on Thursday night, the 27-year-old Martel, a 2004 graduate of Taunton High School, was dead of multiple stab wounds. Remy – the son of former Red Sox player and TV broadcaster Jerry Remy – is charged with her murder.

Jared Remy, 34, pleaded not guilty in Waltham District Court on Friday to charges of murder and domestic assault and battery in the killing of Martel.

Days earlier, on Wednesday, Remy had been released on personal recognizance in an open assault and battery case in which Martel was the alleged victim, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said. There was no active restraining order against him, she said.

Martel was granted a temporary restraining order on Tuesday night, after the alleged assault by Jared Remy at their home. But Remy’s relatives convinced Martel not to file a permanent restraining order against him, Martel’s family said.

“That was not done, and it ultimately led to her death,” Richard Martel, Jennifer’s uncle, said Friday outside his Fall River home.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, nearly one-third of female homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner.

And the most dangerous time for a victim of domestic violence is when she takes steps to leave the relationship, one expert said.

“That’s the time of highest risk, when they’re trying to leave or get out,” said Elizabeth Englander, a Bridgewater State University psychologist and author of “Understanding Violence.”

“Statistically speaking, that’s when most of these homicides occur,” said Englander.

A victim’s decision not to show up in court to extend a restraining order against her abuser, for example, may be based on fear more than anything else, Englander said.

“It’s not that they’re being uncooperative or that they don’t care,” she said. “They’re very, very frightened.”

Having a strong support network, which can include domestic violence hotlines or battered women’s shelters, is critical for victims who want to leave their abuser, Englander said. But often times, victims are “far too terrorized to reach out for help,” she said.

Englander urged people who may know domestic violence victims to watch for signs and reach out to help them.

“You can’t take the attitude that victims are going to ask for help if they need it,” she said.

Page 2 of 2 - In court on Friday, prosecutors described a brutal and determined attack, saying Jared Remy assaulted Martel in the kitchen, living room, on a stairway and then pinned her to the ground in the patio where he stabbed her several times. At least one neighbor who tried to help Martel was driven back when Remy slashed at him, a prosecutor told a judge in court.

Martel’s 4-year-old daughter was in the apartment, and was not hurt. The child is now in the custody of child welfare officials.

Remy was arrested at the scene, his clothes soaked in the victim’s blood, authorities said.

Remy has a violent criminal history, including a total of 15 criminal charges since 1998, according to Waltham court records. He has been accused of assaulting five people – including four women – and was involved in at least three restraining orders, including one in which he was the plaintiff.

Jerry Remy decried the violence in a statement released Saturday through his Twitter account.